The message of Ecclesiastes

I sporadically studied the book of Ecclesiastes this summer, and although I noticed Solomon’s realization of God desiring our pleasure on this earth, I was missing a huge point of the book. I had puzzled over the meaning of the word meaningless or vanity, depending on the translation of the Bible you use. I had thought it to mean worthless and of no significance. This explanation made no sense to me as I applied it to the passages. At the beginning of the first chapter the author writes Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless! To me it seemed to imply that one gets no benefits from life on this earth, and all the things we put our time and effort into don’t amount to anything. I disagreed with this initial interpretation, because I had seen wonderful people work hard at pouring into other people’s lives and make a huge impact on them. That did not seem meaningless to me. When vanity or meaningless is interpreted as affected by the fall it all makes sense.

Solomon had realized through his life that everything was affected by the fall. We humans are stuck in this world where justice is not carried out consistently, lazy fools can succeed in life, and bad things happen to righteous people. Unexplainable tragedies like cancer, war, car accidents, and heart attacks happen. Everyone eventually dies. It is especially tragic when someone who loved many, dies “early.” Many people blame God for “taking them away” or “letting them get sick.” They can’t explain why God does it, because they don’t realize that it’s not His fault! The Devil wants us to blame the unexplainable tragedies in life on God. Terminal illnesses, car accidents, paralyzation -- all these heartbreaking events or conditions exist as a result of the fall. It broke God’s heart when Adam and Eve committed the sin that kicked them out of the garden and tore them from a painless life full of enjoyment and intimate communion with God. He wants us to make the most of the world in which we live, despite the fact that every facet of life is affected by the fall.

There are two main factors that keep us from enjoying life on this sin-affected earth. The first is that we don’t know what is good for us. I see this in my own life, especially in my lack of finances. I feel that if God provided all the necessary finances to get me through school without having to take out any loans, I would be better off. God obviously has other plans and is wanting to teach me a lesson through trials, hard work, and trusting in His provision. The second factor that keeps us from enjoying the earth is that we don’t know the future. I have been struggling with this one a lot lately. I don’t know if God is going to keep me at Cedarville for the remainder of my schooling, of if he is going to move me close to home. The uncertainty of things is overwhelming. I sometimes wish God would just magically tell me the future so I would know how to prepare myself for what is to come and what to look forward to and get excited about. I tend to spend more time worrying about where God might have me next instead of focusing on where he has put me now. I need to find ways that God can use me where I am.

My grandma told me that the best way to find enjoyment on this earth is to pour your life into something greater than yourself. My grandparents are an excellent example of this. They pour their time and energy into other people: getting to know them, helping meet the needs of others, encouraging others during hard times. They have been through their share of hardships in this fallen world, yet they are the happiest people I know. They are happy because they know that they are serving God with their lives. I want to be like them. I want to use every breath God has given me on this crummy, fallen world to invest in the lives of others. The best way for me to find joy in my pain on this earth is to “banish anxiety from [my] heart” (Eccl. 11:10) and live in enjoyment of what God has given me, using my gifts to serve others.

What's the message of Job?

This is a paper I just finished writing for my Old Testament Literature class. I was to reflect on the meaning of the book of Job as it was discussed in class, reflect on an article by Larry Crabb, and discuss why I was choosing to serve God. If you would like to read the article by Crabb, here's the link to it: http://people.cedarville.edu/employee/millerc/otsurvey/paper/crabb.pdf

The study of Job we did in class gave me an entirely new perspective on the book. I had read the book of Job before taking this class, but I hadn’t put much thought into what the point was (in fact, I rarely questioned the meaning of the Bible until I came to Cedarville). The whole book itself never really made sense to me. All I got out of it was, Look how big God is…don’t question his authority! It was enlightening to find that the book answers the question, Why do we serve God? When contemplating why I serve God, I had come up with answers like, I do it because of the eternal rewards, or, Because I will have so much satisfaction in life if I serve God. Sometimes I have thought about how much God loves it when His children serve and obey Him, but I now realize that my reasons for serving God were primarily selfish.

I was intrigued by Crabb’s discussion about his minister friend who wasn’t finding satisfaction in serving Christ, so he turned his back on his family and his ministry to find satisfaction in a flesh-pleasing relationship. Crabb wrote, “But if God becomes the means and our happiness becomes the point, then we are self-obsessed pragmatists, not worshippers. When God is the point and obedience designed to bring him pleasure becomes the focus, then there will eventually be a fullness of joy that makes sin unthinkable and unappealing, thoroughly repulsive.” I have often found myself doing my devotions “because God will bless me.” What I need to be thinking is how learning more about His Word makes me equipped to serve Him better.

His greatness is enough for us to worship and honor and serve God. Job thought that since he was blameless in God’s sight, that he deserved to be blessed by God. No doubt, Job was thankful for his blessings from God, and worked hard to make sure that his children were right with God as well. But when God allowed Job’s possessions to be taken away and his health spent, Job protested with, God, why? I think I would too, if I were in his situation. Job even went so far as to accuse God of wronging him. That means he expected God to continue to give him earthly blessings because he had been blameless in His sight. It is as if he felt that God owed him, and was being unfair by allowing him to be hurt. God owes us nothing!

A relationship with God consists of being thoroughly in awe of who God is and being abundantly grateful for the gift of life He has granted. He didn’t have to create a beautiful world with amazing creatures for us to behold -- but He did. He didn’t have to make us capable of maintaining enjoyable relationships with other humans -- but He did. And He certainly didn’t have to make a glorious plan to save mankind from the consequences of our sins by sending His only Son to take our place -- but He did! He gives me life and breath every day…what better reason is there to serve Him? He let me live when I deserved to die. He allows me to live a life under His grace, and not under the law. I do not deserve anything He gives me. I do not worship Him because I want to live another day, rather I worship Him because I don’t deserve to be living and He gave me the gift of life anyway. He’s just that good.

Instead of asking God to bless me, I should be in continual awe of the fact that God still makes the world run the way it’s supposed to. He holds the universe in place. As a line from one of my favorite songs says,“The slightest glimpse of You brought me down to my knees.” He SPOKE and the stars appeared. He cares about each creature He made, no matter how small. He who is Great listens to even the most petty of my concerns. He who is Holy forgave the adulterous Israelites numerous times when he could have just wiped them off the face of the earth. Getting merely a glimpse of who He is and what He has done (through the Bible and creation) should make me want to serve Him. I need to see God as my only hope for eternal satisfaction. Sure, my selfish desires will not be fulfilled in this life. Being a Christian may even make life harder than it would be without following God. The real wondrousness of serving Christ comes from the eternity spent with Him. To anticipate a greater intimacy and closeness with God (like what we will experience in heaven) is not a selfish reason to follow God, because He wants to get to know me better too!

So, to summarize my rambling thoughts, I want to challenge myself to worship God for who He is, not for what I expect Him to do for me. I do not want to expect blessings from Him on this earth, but instead I want live with the constant realization that I do not deserve to be loved and cared for by such an amazing God. He is so good, and that’s why I serve Him. Like Crabb was saying, when I focus on obeying God merely to please my awesome God, I will eventually not even want to sin, but will be filled with joy over how privileged I am to serve such an awesome God. I want to see each day as a gift from God, and use it to serve God and bring Him pleasure.